Ain-Al-Yaqeen - January 16, 2004

		January 16, 2004

THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY DENOUNCES SHARON'S UNILATERAL STEPS AND CONSIDERS THEM SERIOUS VIOLATION TO THE ROAD MAP AND THE PEACE PROCESS.
QUREI THREATENS THAT BUILDING THE SEPARATION WALL WILL NOT BRING PEACE TO ISRAEL AND WASHINGTON STRESSES THAT BOTH THE WALL AND THE SETTLEMENT ACTIVITY MUST STOP.
SYRIA REJECTS THE ISRAELI PRESIDENT'S INVITATION TO AL-ASSAD BECAUSE IT LACKS SERIOUSNESS AND IT IS ONLY A MEDIA MANEUVER.
AL-SHARA CONFIRMS SYRIA'S COMMITMENT TO THE ARAB PEACE INITIATIVE ADOPTED BY BEIRUT SUMMIT.

Palestinian Authority denounced Israeli Prime Minister Ariel's unilateral disengagement plan, and considered it a unilateral step that seriously violates the Road Map and aims to destroy peace.

''Unilateral actions are rejected by all the concluded accords, to which the government of Israel should adhere, and they are internationally-rejected as well," said a statement released by the official news agency (WAFA).

The Palestinian Leadership "after reviewing these unilateral actions in depth," has concluded that it "has the right, according to international legitimacy and the signed bilateral accords that are internationally-documented, to move towards declaring the creation of the democratic state of Palestine on all the land occupied in 1967, with Al-Quds Al Sharif as its capital," the statement said.

Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon delivered a cautious political plan at the Parliament hinting at his unilateral disengagement plan with the Palestinians. Sharon avoided angering the fanatic members and settlers by ignoring the dismantling of settlement outposts.

The PNA said Sharon's statements were only a maneuver to evade the ‏ implementation of the Road Map peace plan, and the agreements signed with the ‏ Palestinian side.‏

''Sharon's statements are only threats and blackmailing that do not serve or ‏lead to peace,'' Advisor for the Palestinian President, Nabil Abu Rdaineh said ‏ in Ramallah, underlining the importance of an ''Israeli withdrawal from ‏ all territories occupied in 1967.''‏ ‏

He added that Sharon's statements coincided with continuation of settling activities and military intensification, and requested the UN Security Council ‏and the Quartet committee to press for Israeli separating wall stoppage and ‏withdrawal from Palestinian territories and resumption of negotiations. ‏‏

‏Palestinian Cabinet Minister for Negotiations Affairs Sa'eb Ereikat called Sharon's speech "an indication that the only plan he has is for the continuation of walls, occupation and settlements".

Ereikat warned that the Palestinians will not accept a state tailored according to Israeli prescriptions. "If Israel thinks the Palestinians will accept a state made of cages, prisons, enclaves and Bantustans, they are mistaken," he added.

He told reporters in Ramallah that Palestinians were still committed to the two-state solution as envisaged in the American-backed Road Map for peace in the Middle East.

However, the Palestinian official warned that Israel through unilateral measures such as building the apartheid wall deep into the West Bank was corroding the prospect of a viable Palestinian state.

"A complete and full Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem is sin-qua-non for the creation of a Palestinian state," he said.

Israel's Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ‏that Israel will pull out from areas that are not very necessary ‏ for Israel's security, especially the ones with a high Palestinian population.‏ ‏

The news came after the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced his ‏government's intention to take unilateral steps, to prevent the Palestinians ‏from controlling wide areas of their territories, on which they intend to ‏ establish their state.‏ ‏

Olmert indicated that the Israeli steps of separation means that 95% of the ‏ Palestinians will remain outside the areas controlled by Israel.‏ He pointed that the Road Map plan, supported by the US will fail as it requires an agreement with the Palestinian Authority in order to implement ‏it.‏ ‏

In statements quoted by the Israeli mass media Olmert said that his ‏ government is committed to the plan, however he threatened of taking ‏ unilateral steps in case the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations failed.‏ ‏‏

Sharon did not mention, as he did in other recent speeches, his intention to dismantle some Jewish settlements on occupied territory and summarily pull back to new "security lines" if the Road Map process collapsed.

His omission allowed him to avoid direct confrontation for now with nationalists in his coalition who oppose any territorial pullbacks or scrapping of settlements.

Sharon said the Palestinians must begin complying with their obligations as specified in the internationally-backed peace plan known as the Road Map.

If not, such unspecified measures would be put in force in the Palestinian territories until they ''find among themselves the leadership needed in order to resume talks''. ''The Palestinians have not taken any step to fight terrorism,'' Sharon added.

Sharon has said he will take unilateral steps to separate Israel from the Palestinians if there is no progress in peace talks in the coming months.

He said the steps would include dismantling some Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, but said the Palestinians would receive much more territory in a negotiated deal.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei urged the international community to put pressure on Israel to halt construction of its West Bank separation wall, saying that time is running out on chances for a negotiated peace settlement.

Qorei toured a section of the wall in Qalqilya, a Palestinian town near the line with Israel that has been largely enclosed by the structure.

"From the edge of this racist separation wall, I appeal to the United States, to President George W. Bush, Europe and the United Nations to (understand) that this leaves no chance for the establishment of a Palestinian state," he said in the shadow of the 10-meter (33-foot) high barrier.

"I am not saying this emotionally. I am trying to attract attention to what they (Israel) are trying to do through this wall. They are drawing a picture of an imposed solution on the ground," said Qorei, who took office in November.

"We want the United States...to tell Israel to stop building the wall that is destroying everything. It is not only an obstacle to peace, the wall destroys peace," he said.

Israel and the Palestinians have both committed themselves to the Road Map, the peace plan backed by the United States, United Nations, Russia and European Union. But the plan has been stalled for months.

"Where is the Road Map?" Qorei asked in a speech to Qalqilya's community leaders. "Will it be that under the shadow of the Road Map this racist separation wall will continue to be built?"

Qorei told journalists that the barrier, which has been widely criticized by foreign governments, would not bring security to Israel. This wall will not bring peace or security for the Israelis, Qorei said on his first on-site visit to the barrier.

He also said that what the Palestinians have dubbed the apartheid wall was seen as a new symbol of the Israeli occupation which would only inflame feelings.

As long as the occupation is still in our land, the Intifada (the Palestinian uprising which began in September 2000) and struggle will continue, he vowed.

The Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot said that Maj. Gen. Giora Eiland, the incoming director of Sharon's National Security Council, has already asked a number of government ministries to begin preparations for the separation plan.

The paper said that the new chairman is to start consultations with Zionist security apparatuses on evacuation of settlement outposts and moving the empty caravans to other areas in the West Bank.

Sharon's plan envisaged the dismantling of 17 isolated settlement outposts in various West Bank areas and annexing them to already established bigger ones or moving them to other strategic areas.

In the meantime, Israeli occupation forces continued to invade Nablus City, and took five Palestinians to unknown locations. Israeli soldiers used Abdul Karim Khalili as a human shield. They forced the Northern Mountain resident, an area near Nablus City, to shout to people to leave their homes and go out into the streets. More than 70 people were forced to wait outside their homes for over three hours.

Israeli occupation forces were still on the rampage in the northern West Bank city of Tulkarm imposing a curfew and conducting house-to-house search blasting their way into houses. The forces occupied a number of houses turning them into small army barracks and watchtowers.

The soldiers retained hundreds of inhabitants of the Tulkarm refugee camp including men, women and children in the yard of the UNRWA offices overnight in the cold, rainy weather without food or drink.

Israeli forces demolished 10 Palestinian ‏houses in Rafah, south of Gaza during an incursion.‏ Eyewitnesses said that several Israeli tanks and bulldozers deeply ‏penetrated into the city where many houses close to the demolished ones were ‏also damaged.‏ ‏

The sources said that the Israeli forces opened fire towards the citizens ‏ ‏during the operation, injuring five, out of which three were children.‏ ‏

‏In Washington, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Satterfield said ‏Israeli settlement activity must stop because it ultimately undermines Israeli as well as Palestinian interests.

''The demographic picture is very stark,'' Satterfield said during remarks at a State Department conference on ''The United States, the Middle East, and the ‏ 1967 Arab-Israeli War.'' The conference was held in conjunction with the ‏release of declassified documents on the 1967 War. ‏

''Within the next decade or so, Jews will be a minority in the area ‏ encompassing Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, those territories acquired in ‏June 1967,'' Satterfield said.

''As Israeli settlements expand those settlements that began immediately after June 10th, 1967 -- and their ‏populations increase, it becomes ever more difficult to see how two peoples ‏can be separated into two states,'' he added. ‏

Israeli settlements continue to grow today, ''encouraged by specific ongoing government policies and at enormous expense to Israel's economy,'' he said. ‏ ‏

''And this persists even as it becomes clearer and clearer that the logic of ‏settlements and the reality of demographics could threaten the future of ‏ Israel itself as a Jewish democratic state,'' Satterfield added. ‏‏

‏‏The course of the separation barrier under construction ‏ between Israel and the West Bank remains a significant problem as well ‏ ''because its planned route inside the West Bank isolates Palestinians from ‏each other and from their livelihoods, prejudices negotiations and, like ‏settlement activity itself, takes everyone further from the confidence and ‏trust necessary to achieve the president's vision of two states,'' Satterfield ‏ said.‏ ‏

While violence and terror will never be a vehicle for achievement of ‏Palestinian aspirations, he added, ''it is equally important to preserve the ‏ possibility ... that a viable state can be achieved by a Palestinian ‏ leadership that is committed to ending terror.'' ‏

‏Ending violence and reforming Palestinian political institutions are ‏ ''deeply and fundamentally in the self-interest of Palestinians, and they are ‏ the only workable path to statehood and the end to occupation,'' he added. ‏''They are the only workable path forward to realization of the legitimate ‏national aspirations of the Palestinian people.'' ‏

‏‏In Cairo, US Middle East envoy William Burns said Israel's construction of a barrier through parts of the West Bank is blocking a revival of peace negotiations with the Palestinians.

"We have made it clear (to the Israelis) that the core of our concern is about the course of the separation barrier," he said. Burns, US Assistant Secretary of State for Near East affairs, met Arab League Amre Moussa Secretary General.

The meeting pored over the situation in the Middle East and the developments in Palestine, Iraq and Sudan, the spokesman of the AL Secretary-General said.

Moussa told Burns that the Israeli stance and statements don't help establish peace in the Middle East, he added, and noted that the US has to continue efforts to push forward peace negotiations on the different tracks according to the agreed bases.

On his part, Burns pointed out that Washington had raised its concerns with the Israelis, publicly and privately, pointing to the need to ease the humanitarian problems posed by the barrier and also to show how the barrier is an obstacle to resuming peace talks.

US officials have told their Israeli counterparts that the barrier "prejudices the outcome of negotiations and makes it harder to revive hope in the roadmap and move back to the peace process," he said.

William Burns also said that any opportunity to resume negotiations between Israel and Syria should be encouraged.

In Beirut, Lebanon's President Emile Lahoud said Syria and his country have a united policy over the Middle East situation, adding both states seek to boost stability in the region.

President Lahoud said during a meeting with the EU envoy to the Middle East peace process, Marc Oti, that threats and pressures would neither change the convictions of Syria and Lebanon, nor affect their national and pan-Arab stances.

He pointed out to the necessity of resumption of the peace process from the point it stopped at, reiterating that the Arab peace initiative endorsed by Beirut Arab summit is still the basic foundation for the revival of the deadlocked peace process.

The Lebanese President said Israel's Sharon policy exploits the Sep. 11 attacks, and the U.S. elections, to win illegal political and military gains, and impose a de facto situation in the region.

For his part, Oti said in a statement that he briefed President Lahoud on the objective his regional tour that led him so far to several countries, stressing the EU interest in working with all Arab states to implement the international resolutions and bring peace back to the region.

He voiced the European bloc's readiness to do its best to secure any mechanism that could lead to the resumption of negotiations on the Syrian and Lebanese tracks. He also praised Syria's stance over the Middle East peace process.

Earlier, Oti told reporters following a meeting with the Lebanese Premier Rafiq Al-Hariri that his Beirut visit is ''part of regular consultations with our Arab partners.'' He added he reviewed with Al-Hariri the latest developments in the region and Europe-Lebanon relations.

Meanwhile, Israel's President Moshe Katsav invited Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad to Jerusalem for peace negotiations with Israeli leaders, but Damascus dismissed the offer as a "media maneuver".

Katsaf has renewed his call for the Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad to make direct negotiations with Israel in secret or in open, at any place without set preconditions.

Katsav made his proposal during a morning interview with Israel Radio, saying, ''I am the president of Israel, and I have the authority to invite other presidents. I invite the president of Syria to come to Jerusalem, to meet with the state leaders, to conduct serious negotiations.''

''There is no doubt that President Assad is in severe trouble, and his intentions aren't pure,'' Katsav said. ''But we must seriously examine his proposal to renew negotiations with Israel in a direct meeting and not through the media.''

The Israeli President said that his invitation to the Syrian President to visit Israel came on the background of the recent statements made in Syria and to test the real Syrian intention for peace with Israel.

Katsaf also asked the Syrian President to prove serious intentions that he wants peace. He added that the invitation also came to encourage the Syrian President to proceed into an open road, because he did not choose secret channels.

According to Katsaf, the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, informed him that he is ready to join negotiations with Syria without prior conditions, and that he personally welcomes the Syrian President if he wants to come to Israel.

The Israeli President also called on Syria to stop its support for the Lebanese Hizbullah party, and not to host the Palestinians groups in Damascus. Katsaf accused President Al-Assad of making anti-Semitism statements, and exploiting his relations with Iran to smuggle weapons to Hizbullah, and that raises Israeli doubts towards Syrian peace intention.

This, however, came after Channel II in the Israeli TV quoted the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, as saying that Israel will not give back the Golan heights to Syria even if it is for complete peace with it.

Sharon had said he believed Syria was still helping agents of the Lebanese group, Hezbollah, which is accused of involvement in attacks on Israel.

He said when support for such groups stopped, Israel would be ready for negotiations. ''Israel is ready and willing to negotiate once Syria stops its help to terror,'' he said.

Two leading Israeli cabinet ministers - Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom - have already spoken in favor of resuming talks with Syria.

Netanyahu suggested that Syria was in a weak position and could be pressured into peace without Israel having to give up all of the Golan Heights.

Israeli officials have questioned the sincerity of Al-Assad's offer, saying it appeared to be motivated by political expediency to placate the United States more than by a true desire for peace. In Jerusalem, Israel's Foreign Minister, Silvan Shalom, told reporters, ''If the Syrian government rejected the invitation, it shows that the Syrian leadership is not serious and is not demonstrating willingness and readiness'' to begin new talks.

Meanwhile, Syria rejected the invitation, "partial solutions and media maneuvers do not achieve peace in the region...Syria's longstanding position is to resume negotiations from where they stopped," the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) said.

Israeli President's invitation to ‏ Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad to visit Israel is a way to evade the peace ‏process, SANA said.‏ The agency quoted a Syrian high-level media source as saying ''the proposed ‏mechanism for the peace process is not initiatives and visits ... this is ‏evading the peace process because making peace in line with the Madrid Conference and UN resolutions is the only way to ensure peace and security for ‏the Middle East.'' ‏

Partial solutions and media maneuvers do not make peace, said the agency, adding that the Arab initiative adopted at the Beirut Arab summit offers a unified Arab position towards peace and Syria's position is to start peace ‏talks form the point they reached.‏ ‏

The source said that Syria's permanent stance calls for the resumption of negotiations from the point where it stopped according to the ''Madrid term of reference'' and the ''relevant international resolutions.''

Meanwhile, Syrian Minister of Migrants Buthaina Shaaban said Syria does not ‏ take the invitation seriously.‏ ‏

Shaaban said the Israeli proposal was not a serious answer to Mr Al-Assad's peace overtures.

''We need a serious response... A serious response is to say yes, we are interested in peace, we want to negotiate,'' the Syrian minister told CNN.

Syrian Ambassador at the UN, Faisal Al-Miqdad, played down the Israeli invitation. He said that his country is not ready to sacrifice its land nor to negotiate with the Israeli president, noting that the problem is basically with the Israeli government.

He explained that this invitation will be of no result and there will be no peace as long as Israel does not honor UN Security Council resolutions provide for Israel's withdrawal from the Golan Heights occupied in 1967.

Meanwhile, a Syrian ‏newspaper said recent statements of Israeli Foreign Minister ‏Silvan Shalom on ''secret contacts'' with Syria are ''untrue''. ‏

The government mouthpiece Teshreen said Syria has nothing to deny and ‏ secret contacts never existed in the past.‏ Syria is adhered to the option of peace according to the Arab initiative ‏which was decided by the Beirut summit, said the Syrian daily.‏ ‏

The United States which has sponsored the negotiations admitted that Israel dodged the implementation of resolutions 242 and 338, said the newspaper.‏ ‏

''There is no space for misleading facts ... Syria opened the doors and ‏ Israel is rejecting ... the rights are clear and the land is occupied", said ‏ ‏the newspaper.‏

For its part, ''Al-Baath'' newspaper said the Syrian call to resume peace negotiations provided a golden opportunity to solve the predicament of peace and to help reaching just and comprehensive peace.‏ ‏

''Syria was serious, transparent and logical but the Israeli response ‏represented a cheap political maneuver which was totally rejected,'' according ‏ to Al-Baath.

Syria's Foreign Minister Farouk Al-Shara reiterated Syria's commitment to the Arab peace initiative adopted by Beirut Arab Summit, stressing the importance of the Syrian-European relations and the role the EU could play to this objective.

Al-Shara received the special European Union Envoy for the Middle East peace process Marc Oti and the accompanying delegation.

Talks during the meeting dealt with the latest developments of the situations in the region, and the efforts to turn the Middle East into a region free of weapons of mass destruction in the framework of the UN.

The talks also focused on ending the Israeli occupation of the Syrian Golan, in line with UN resolutions and the ''Madrid term of reference'', and the work with Europe to establish just and comprehensive peace in the region.

''It is impossible to realize just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East region without Syria,'' the special EU Envoy for the Middle East peace process Marc Oti said.

In statements following his meeting with Foreign Minister Al-Shara, Oti added that it is impossible to realize comprehensive peace in the region without realizing peace with Syria and Lebanon from one side, and Israel from the other side.

In Washington, US State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said: '' Direct dialogue between Israel and Syria ‏would be good.''

''We have long made clear the importance of direct dialogue between Israel ‏and its neighbors, and that this is an essential element in achieving ‏ comprehensive peace in the region,'' Ereli said during a State Department ‏ briefing.‏ ‏

''I would refer you to the governments of Israel and Syria for specific ‏ details on what is being reported about the Israeli president's invitation to Syrian President (Bashir) Al-Assad, as well as whatever subsequent actions there ‏may be to that invitation,'' he added.‏ ‏

The United States supports a comprehensive peace in the Middle East, ‏ ‏including peace between Israel and Syria, Ereli said.‏ ‏

Direct dialogue is the quickest way to solving issues ''and engaging in a ‏ ‏process that leads to a negotiated settlement,'' Ereli said, so the United ‏ ‏States welcomes any step ''that leads to face-to-face meetings to resolve the ‏issues that are producing instability''.